A Wellspring of Regret

[Exile_Jeane]

"On ye Haid than," Marida shrugged before pulling her crackling axe and returning the favor with two downward chops at the centaur, first swing coming down from the front of the demi-human, but the second coming down across his equine hindquarters as her long legs sent her dancing around to his flanks with practiced martial grace. Sod this bastard for ruining her party and not accepting her gracious apology.

 

Spoiler

Swing and a Swing

[1d20+7] Roll: [6] Result: 13

If a 13 hits...

[2d6+6] Roll: [5, 4] Result: 15, 11 of it Slashing, 4 of it lightning Dam

Second swing

[1d20+7] Roll: [19] Result: 26 Heh. Almost a Crit, lol

if a 26 hits...

Exile_Jeane Request: [2d6+6] Roll: [4, 1] Result: 11, 10 of it slashing, 1 of it lightning Dam

 

[Asarasa]

In the circle of Wood…

 

On 5/30/2023 at 10:13 AM, Nina said:

“There is destiny and magic at work here Kathra of Land’s End, we will be safe in this wood. Return with your friends and we will lead you as far as we can go.”

 

"Destiny is all well and good, Yaymeesa," Kathra said, patting the girl's arm, before pressing the hilt of her belt knife into her slim hands. "But a weapon helps too."

The burly dwarf-woman whistled Anvil over, then went through her saddlebags and pack, leaving nearly all her food and water for the girls. She gave her War Ram a considering look, debating on leaving him behind to defend the girls, but decided against it. She might have a surfeit of stamina, but she couldn't be called swift, and she'd need Anvil's speed to return to her companions and bring them back. Especially if they were indeed in danger.

"Yaymeesa, Allyam, Teirnial, stay strong and hold to your faith." Kathra swung herself up into the saddle and settled herself. She gave the three girls a firm, sharp nod, her bright orange braid swinging. "I shall return as quick as I can."

She swung about and the War Ram trotted out of the clearing. She leaned forward and patted Anvil between his curling horns. Come old friend, I need you to go as fast as you can... 

[Nina]

Inside the pub…

 

No one had expected the big Dragonborn to move so swiftly or to react with such deadly violence. His axes slashed at the young mage, even as he spun to strike again at the dagger wielding thug. The axes slashed again and try as he might the thug was unable to dodge or parry the ferocious cuts. The first sliced up diagonally across his chest and the spray of blood splattered the ceiling above, the thug cried out and stumbled a step back, but Brarga kept on and the second slash cut across the thugs abdomen and dropped the thug to his knees holding in his guts.

 

The mage was hurt bad but with Brarga’s attention on the knife man she gestured and spoke a short sentence in that unknown tongue and a mote fire lept from her hand at the dragonborn and sailed over his shoulder to strike the wall beyond!

 

Spoiler

Fire bolt misses Brarga and hits the wallluckily a fire does not break out.

 

Outside the Pub….

The minotaur’s were having a bad day. Neither landed blows on their targets and both targets drew steel.

 

Ren no longer showing any effects of the drink she had imbibed took a defensive stance and mouthed a short prayer.

 

A short distance away a soft glow surrounds Marida even as the Centaur, cursing swings his axe and then rears up and slashes at the Elf with his sharpened hooves. The Centaur is on target and his blows catch Marida dealing horrendous wounds!

 

Spoiler

Ren cast shield of faith on Marida giving her +2 AC unfortunately the centaur gets two crits on Marida for a total of 29 damage... ouch If Marida is still with us it is her turn.

 

[Shameless]

Brarga scowled at the fire and shout to the attendant  "Quickly, everyone out of the bar, or find something to put it out before it goes out of control!"   He'd actually stowed his axes, and closed with the wounded mage.  She might still have answers for them, and certainly someone would have to answer for the fire in the tavern.  For her part the mage never even saw the massive fist coming toward her, as Brarga opted for a less lethal method of attack.  The impact rocked her head back, and she fell into his outstretched other arm.  He heft her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and then looked to the thug he'd slashed open.   "Hold on to what's important, and I will try to get you out of here.  Continue against me, and you will die, and so will your comrade."   

They were enemies true, but death by fire was not a good way to go.  He waited a moment. "This will not be pleasant."   He grabbed him by the back of his tunic, and began dragging him along with his free arm, heading for the door.  From the cries of pain he knew the one he drug wouldn't last long.  Hopefully someone outside could heal him, enough that he'd live, same as the mage, though they probably wouldn't enjoy it.

Spoiler

attack
Shameless Request: [1d20+8] Roll: [17] Result: 25

damage
Shameless Request: [1d8+5] Roll: [3] Result: 8

 

[Exile_Jeane]

Spoiler

Comes to fifteen or 14 damage out of her 80 thanks to Rage. She's fine, lol.

swinging back with her lightning-charged axe...

[1d20+7] Roll: [7] Result: 14

If that's hits...

[2d6+6] Roll: [3, 2] Result: 11 Damage, 2 of it lightning.

Second Swing.

[1d20+7] Roll: [17] Result: 24

If that hits...

[2d6+6] Roll: [6, 4] Result: 16 Damage, 4 of it lightning.

 

"Aye, nice hits," the ashen warrior came back with a laugh, her own blood trickling down her clothes as she danced back around. Marida was a warrior blooded in the defense of her native forest and recognized a good, gut-slicing hit that would put paid to a lesser fighter unblessed with the gifts of her titanic rage. It was a very angry deep-running amusement, but it was there, and if he hadn't already spent his last chance she'd have offered the misguided horsekin a pint right there. As it was, she'd let her axe do the talking. At least until the fight stopped at the hands of her party or the coming of the watch. They couldn't be too far out, could they?

 

Slice-Crackle! Slice-Crackle! 

[Nina]

The rams short legs drove the mount quicker than looks said it should have and the miles fell away fast but still it took time an hour at gallop had Kathra back at the Three leaves Inn where she could see none of her party. She asked the Innkeeper, and he directed her to one of the back rooms.

 

There she found Tandal entertaining a group of well-dressed merchants with a song. Kathra waited and once noticed by the troubadour he cut his song short and came to her.

 

Kathra asked about the rest of the party and with a bit of grumpiness Tandel told her that Brarga had gone into the city to look for work and the rest except for Seelia had gone into town in search of Fun, leaving him to fend for himself.

 

“Thank You. I need to find them.”

 

“Good luck with that,” said the troubadour as he drank his wine.

 

Kathra went looking for Seelia. When she asked the innkeeper he told her that several elves showed up and the all went off through a portal with the little fairy.

Disgruntled Kathra rode on into the city.

 

Marida’s axe seemed alive in her hands as sh slashed right opening a deep cut in Choba’s bare chest then the back swing reversing crossing the cut she had just made leaving a bloody X on the centaur’s torso. Choba looked down at the blood running in sheets off his opened chest, he staggered back a couple of unsteady steps, his axe fell for numb fingers then with a last look up at Marida he fell sideways to the ground, dead.

 

Yimtac and Renn held their blows as the Minotaur’s, seeing their boss fall. Dropped their weapons and bolted. The two thugs from the inn had exited to see all this and with a glance at each other ran off in the opposite direction from the minotaur’s.

 

A breath later and Brarga came out wit the unconscious mage under his arm like a sake of meal. At almost the same time Kathra on Anvil arrived at the scene.

 

Spoiler

Combat over  :  Choba is carrying the following 67 gp, a dragon's tooth, a set of dice (1 sp), a trilobite fossil a folding short bow with 2 dozen arrows and a battle axe. The mage has 120 gp, a brass bell (1 gp), a glass sphere, a piece of black chalk, a couple of daggers

 

 

[Shameless]

Brarga looked at the dead centaur, and Marida, her axe still dripping with its blood, and sighed.   "When it rains, it pours, I see."

He saw Kathra arrive, as well as Yimtac and Renn, and nodded.  The unconscious mage he unlimbered and set down.  Everyone could see the slash mark on her chest, which while it wasn't fatal would definitely need treatment, and the massive bruising on her face. "All of you who can heal, let's try to get two of them stablilized.   She'll need to be healed but she's a spellcaster of some sort, she missed me with a firebolt and that's scorched some wood inside, so be aware, and try to keep her under."   The other barely alive thug was still managing to hold his guts in, barely.  "This one needs immediate healing or he will certainly die.   As their boss attacked me and is dead, and their compatriots have fled, having a couple to interrogate and hand over to the authorities would be wise."

[Asarasa]

Kathra frowned at the blood on Marida's axe as she dismounted from Anvil, but with the circumstances of her haste, she was going to assume the centaur had it coming. Removing her gauntlets as she approached Brarga, she gave the dragonborn a nod. She knelt down on a knee and placed a hand on the chest of the thug and the woman Brarga had set down on the ground. An exhaled breath and she released a pulse of healing energy into each one, enough to ease the direst of their wounds without stirring them awake.

"I hope you don't mean to spend much time on these miscreants. How much trouble could you lot get into in less than half a day?" Brarga grunted. Marida shrugged as she wiped her axe clean. Kathra sighed. "I rode back in all haste from my travel outside the city. There is a foul witch somewhere out there, and she's cursed a woman and her three innocent daughters. I've sworn to do something about it and I mean to return before night falls."

[Exile_Jeane]

Spoiler

Rage Ends, lol.

 

Marida's ears perked at Kathra's response, fingers probing the wound on her midriff and body tingling from the aftershocks of her mystical enlargment.

 

"A witch, eh? Tha'll bae batween us an' da watch, friend. Holy cause o' nae," She offered with a chuckle, looking around to confirm their witnesses were still around. She didn't particularly want to go back to camping in the hills if this ass of a centaur's hot-headness got them ejected from the village. She sheathed her axe on her hip and looked to the dwarf. 

 

"Some help? Da nae want tae bleed all over mae leathers," she drawled, "An' than I'll bae bonnie tae help with thes' witch." 

[Shameless]

Brarga let out a sigh, and those gathered could swear he almost seemed to snort flame in irritation.   "Fine, not like we were really doing anything anyway.  Let Me guess, it's in the west?"  He looked at Kathra, then the two she'd healed, that he'd nearly killed.  "They and their boss were to deliver a message, advising us to leave the city, heading to the South Leaf, or the East, not west under any circumstances.  Then they and the ones who were out here were going to rough me up to make sure I understood the message."

He sighed.  "He knew they'd likely die, and promised more would continue to come, until they didn't have to, one way or another.  His Employer while not mentioned, is up to something and definitely wants us out of the way."

[Nina]

Renn went to Marida and produced her holy symbol, a medallion with the figures of the Tri-Faced Goddess. "The Face of War favors you Marida, your wounds are light only the one cut and some bruises, but i think the Goddess will ease your discomfort after that fine display."  The small cleric smiles up at the elven giantess, kisses the medallion and with a mumbled prayer touches the symbol to Marida's chest over the heart.

 

There is a soft glow and the pain eases as the cut closes and Marida feels strength and warmth flow into her body.

 

Renn slips the symbol back over her head and around her neck as she turns to Kathra, "You have a tale to tell Paladin," then to Brarga, "Drag thoe two back inside and we shall hear Kathra's tale and decide what to do."

 

The party of heroes head back inside and Renn stops the crowd.

 

 "I'm sorry friends but this is now a private party but I think you will find enough in this bag to continue the party inthe next Tavern. She tosses a bag of coins to a woman guard she knows from the inn, and nods for her to lead the crowd on.

 

Spoiler

Marida is healed 11hp.  Max if you are ready to join this is a good spot.

 

 

[SalmonMax]

There was a sound like old dry twigs cracking underfoot...a whiff of pine sap, and a puff of chill air that washed over the group. Then she was there.

 

"It must be nice, being up against such amateurs."

 

The voice was soft, dripping with contempt. It belonged to the elf that had appeared out of nowhere a little to one side of the group. She was slim, even for an elf, dressed in a suit of elegantly designed leather armor set with lacquered metal links that both offered extra protection as well as lent the suit an intriguing, almost mural-like character. She had a rapier at her side with her hand resting on, but not gripping, the hilt. Her skin was so pale that she looked almost linen-white, with striking black hair that fell without curls or curves down the sides of her head to spill over her shoulders.

 

"If it doesn't make you soft, that is." Her eyes, flinty black-on-white, rose from the doorway that the two unconscious antagonists had been taken off through to survey each person in the group in turn. Her face betrayed nothing but a vague sense of dissatisfaction that seemed aimed less at them and more at just...everything.

 

She let out an annoyed breath and asked, "You're the ones that went to kill a dragon, and freed it instead, right?"

 

"I'm Maighan." The corners of her purple lips quirked into a smirk. "Some call me Maighan the Mad."

Edited June 21, 2023 by SalmonMax

[Shameless]

Brarga was thankful for the quick actions of his comrades, and Renn's quick thinking to have a meeting in a more private setting.   He was just about to ask Kathra to explain what she'd agreed to do, and then suddenly a slender elf appeared.  He couldn't recall her presence from his own brief battle, but then he'd been focused more on his assailants.   Her tone left much to be desired, and Brarga wasn't particularly in the best of moods.

His first thought was to simply state that he'd not asked for her name, let alone her presence in what was supposed to be a private meeting.  He stifled that, by chance one of the others had brought her, she might have been someone they'd met in their carousing, but that too seemed unlikely.   
 

"We followed our collective Conscience in our last endeavor, to the benefit of everyone.  Perhaps a different conclusion than we sought initially, but still one we can all live with.   As you have introduced yourself, I will do the same. I am Brarga Bloodaxe.  Now, I'm curious, why are you here?  It was my understanding that this was to be a more private meeting, as we discuss what has just happened, and what we'll do from here. "

He didn't rise to her bait about amateurs, but he had of course been told these attacks would continue.

[SalmonMax]

"Oh, is it? Well that's perfect then," was Maighan's response. "You're still choosing a course of action. Excellent."

 

She clapped her hands together briskly.

 

"There is a particular service that only you can do for me, in exchange for which, I shall utilize the extent of my skills and abilities in the furtherance of your group's goals. Insofar as they do not require me to violate my own allegiances, vows, obligations, and so on. Now, is that..."

 

Her voice choked off in mid-sentence as her face twisted in a sudden expression of repugnance. "...no! No, you stop that! It's not your..."

 

...and there was a breath of breeze that gusted through the room, stirring hair and cloaks as it went. It carried the scent of spiced cider and fresh-fallen leaves. Earthy and crisp; with the last of summer's warmth and first hints of winter's chill on its shoulders. When the gust hit Maighan it swirled around her, and her hair blossomed a bright orange, shot through with streaks of yellow. It bloomed in volume as well, from the straight, lanky black it had been to something curlier and with more body. Her skin tone improved, becoming ruddy with just a trace of what might be a fading tan. Less skinny as well; she had...filled out rather nicely, though the armor she wore put limits on what could be discerned.

 

"...yes yes, but you're making a mess of it, and while time may be eternal, first impressions only happen once," she finishes reprovingly. Then she gave Brarga and the others a warm, almost motherly smile.

 

"I'm very sorry about that. The gifts of winter are many, but easily earning trust is not among them. And we need your trust...so here is what she wanted to leave out."

 

Maighan inhaled deeply. "We...that is, I...am under a curse. Not an ordinary curse, of the kind mortals play at. A real one. There's no spell that'll just end this as quick as you please. I have not yet sussed out the specifics of how it must be countered, but I have it on the highest authority that you...your group here...will be the ones that help me break it, when the time comes. Although everything I said before about helping you and so on is true, I am hoping that the fact that I really, genuinely need your help also moves you. Lest I be doomed to live a broken life for all..."

 

The windows in the pub slammed shut as an icy wind picked up outside. The fire at the hearth and the candles at the table all guttered low for a moment...and when the light returned, the original Maighan was back; black hair and coal-black eyes, rail-thin and pale as morning fog. "Imbecile!" she hissed down at her hands. "You didn't have to tell them all that!"

 

Visibly gathering her dignity, which she clearly regarded as having been shredded, she drew herself straight again and regarded everyone coolly.

 

"Very well. You have the full story. You know what I ask, and what I offer. What say you?"

[Nina]

Renn glances from this strange Elf then over to Kathra, she rubs her chin with one hand and the other touches her holy symbol around her neck.

 

"Two subjects that have been cursed showing up at the same time? This cannot be a coincidence."

 

Before she can continue she is interrupted by Yimtac. "Pardon my friends but before we go further. I must inform that I will not be able o accompany you at this time. Since it looked like we would be here for some time I have excepts a commission to smith a suit of armor for a rich merchants son. It will take several weeks and I have already accepted payment. I cannot forgo my promise. I am sorry."

 

"Don't be." Kathra says while handing the Dragonborn and large mug of ale. "A promise is a promise. You are and honorable being." The Dwarf looks at the new elf then at Braga and the others. "Seelia is gone as well. I saw her departing with a group of elves through a portal. She left no word and no idea of when or if she would return.  I agree with Renn, this can be no coincidence I believe we are being guided by the gods."

[Shameless]

Brarga was silent for a a fair while.   When Yimtac spoke of another commitment, Brarga moved and set a red-scaled hand on Yimtac's shoulder.  As Kathra said, you are honorable,  we have fought and bled together.  Finish your work, and if you wish you can join up with us again on the next one."  he actually smiled, it was true he'd miss having the other Dragonborn around.  He'd miss Seelia's presence, even though he'd only admit that in his mind.

With Renn and Kathra already drawing conclusions about this being willed by the gods, He rolled his broad shoulders and nodded.  "Very well.   If you two are alright with it, then I'll respect that."  He turned his yellow-eyed gaze to Maighan, and nodded.  "Welcome to our company then, Maighan."  It wasn't so much that he trusted her, he didn't.  She hadn't earned that.   Kathra and Renn however had, and if they were saying they should allow her a place among them, then that was enough for Brarga, for now.

[Nina]

Renn nods a maighan and gestures for her to sit then addresses Kathra.

 

"You spoke with urgency Kathra, tell what is needed and what we face."

 

[Asarasa]

Kathra gave Maighan a searching look, then nodded, silently agreeing Brarga. She had traveled and dallied with elves before, but Maighan seemed particularly fey and strange for one of their kind. But if she was indeed cursed... it was too much of a coincidence.

 

The brawny she-dwarf nodded at Renn. "I traveled West to stretch my legs and give Anvil a good run. An hour or so later, while stopping to drink from a stream, I caught the scent of wood smoke. I followed it back to a clearing canopied by a great tree, occupied by three young women. Girls, really, as humans reckon things. They were a ragged bunch and wary, and sounded Drageran to my ears."

Kathra sighed, then took a deep pull of her ale. "Their mother, the witch has cursed and captured, and is torturing to wrest from her a secret known only to her. The witch seeks the girls to use them to wrench the secret from the mother. The girls too are also affected to some degree from the curse and so could not tell me the witch's name bt they seemed sure that as long as they are free their mother will withstand the wretched witch."

Kathra placed her broad hands on the table and looked around at her companions, old and new. "I vowed that I would do the best I could to free their mother and end the witch as soon as I conferred with you, my companions. Yaymeesa, the eldest of the girls, promised to lead us as close to the witch as she could when I, we, returned." She nodded at Maighan. "Perhaps there may be a link to seeking the unraveling of your own curse in this as well."

[Shameless]

"I had a feeling you went West."   Brarga said with a small sigh.   "Just be prepared, the attackers we've fought, they will be but the first wave.  We've been warned off the West, and the attacks will continue until we have nothing left to hurt, or have dealt with the Mastermind behind them, and whatever else is going on there."

He looked at Kathra.  "Saving their mother is all well and good, but how will we safeguard the sisters until we've done so?"

[SalmonMax]

Maighan snorts at that assessment. "Masterminds is a generous assessment, if they truly want to stop you from going West. And even if this is a misdirect, it's a clumsy one."

 

"In my experience, adventurers respond just as well to rumors of treasure and reward as they do to revenge. And it saves a great deal of money on disposable assassins as well."

 

She shrugs. "Alas."

 

"As for the sisters, are they under direct threat? Have they been attacked directly, other than this curse?"

[Exile_Jeane]

"Best tae go and cut tha haid 'f tha snake and make a ta-do aboot et as we do," Marida volunteered with a slight chop of one hand towards the west wall of the tavern. Her dark eyes tracked between the burn mark on the wall, the newcomer elf, the bloodstains on the floor, and back to the newcomer elf. She had to fight the urge to be overtly on her guard around a Fae Elf, raised on second-hand stories of their overweening arrogance and emotional unpredictability. Her kin had left the Faewilds to escape their machinations and it had been a narrow thing to hear it told that the migration hadn't resulted in wars that would have left blood debts to outlive both their kinds. As paranoid as her people were, Marida could only imagine how much *worse* they could have been towards outsiders with a grudge like that poisoning their veins. And it wasn't like she was in the situation to judge based on old stories even if she was in the mood to.

 

"Ye 're welcome en mae eyes, Maighan, welcome as this crew made mae nae ta long ago."

[Asarasa]

Kathra gave a small shake of her head, parsing what Marida said in her thick accent, then turned her jade greed eyes on Brarga and Maighan, giving a small shrug. 

"The girls seemed fine, if hungry some. They seemed to feel they would be safe in the clearing where I found them, so long as their mother held out against the witch." She finished her ale and then smacked her lips. "We can see to the girls disposition after we return to them and they lead us to the witch. They appeared well enough in the clearing, and I can leave Anvil with them as well."

 

The big dwarf woman stood up and rolled her shoulders. "Other then buying some more supplies for the girls, you lot be ready to seek out the girls soon?"

Edited June 30, 2023 by Asarasa

[Nina]

That being decided the party, both old and new, exited the Tavern where the encountered a City Guard Sergeant and a dozen guardsmen. After explaining what had occurred and still riding on the good favor brought on by their adventure with the dragons, the group was allowed to continue with their new quest.

 

They bustled about gathering their full set of adventuring gear and enough supplies to last a month in the wild and then they were off.

 

The ride west on the road was uneventful and soon they were at the place Kathra had left the road and rode toward the wood smoke. The Party did the same and they two could see the smoke from a small fire.

 

Arriving at the copse of wood they find the three young girls sitting around a campfire. As they approach an apparition appears before them. The little girls have taken no notice of the riders or of the apparition.

 

The ghostly figure is in the shape of a robed and cowled woman but details are not clear, it is not possible to tell if it is of a human, elf, or other race. As the riders draw up and hands fall to weapons a voice clear and articulate comes forth.

 

Spoiler

The voice is real, not in the characters heads, but each of the party hears the voice in the language they consider their main tongue.

 

“Stay your hands, no weapons are needed here and none that you possess could harm me. I am She Whom Watches Over, and I have waited long for this day.

 

The children’s mother will not hold out long so you must hurry if you are to save them, but know this, the saving of the children is but the beginning of your ordeal, commit to this and you will be bound to see things through till the end.

 

You Kathra, are already bound to this quest by oaths taken long ago, but the rest of you, think hard before proceeding.”

 

The apparition falls silent and the party notices that the sky has grown cloudy and the wind has begun to blow.

 

[Shameless]

Brarga hid his surprise at being addressed in Draconic, He'd come to simply accept Common tongue as it was truly that, but he'd been reared speaking Draconic and it came to him naturally.   He noted the others seemed to understand as well, and while not a brilliant man, understood enough that they'd likely all heard the voice in their own native tongues as well.   

He answered it in the same fashion, in draconic, "I am Brarga Bloodaxe, and as a warrior, my word is my bond.   I stand with my sworn comrade, Kathra, whom I have shed blood with on the battlefield.   I will see this through to whatever end."   It was perhaps the most Draconic they'd heard him speak aside when speaking to the Dragon.

For the benefit of his comrades, old and new, who didn't speak Draconic, he repeated it, this time in Common.  He had questions, but he would wait for the others to give their own oaths and vows, if they would.  He was fairly certain this wouldn't be a short quest, and that it wouldn't be easy, but it he wouldn't abandon his comrades.

[Asarasa]

Despite She Whom Watches Over's claims, Kathra had to resist reaching for her warhammer at the appearance of the apparition. But as the ghostly figure continued to speak, Kathra reached up with both hands to close them over the terminals of the Thane Torc she ever wore about her neck. Her heavy chest rose and fell as her heart pounded, the steel plates of her armour rustling.

"By the Stone Father and the Forge Mother, The Dead King is behind the tribulations of these poor girls?" Kathra demanded with barely restrained fury, green eyes flashing as her thoughts soared back to when she escaped the Doom of Land's End, when she buried her Thane and made her Vow. She took a deep, steadying breath.

 

Her eyes went to the unaware girls then roved over her comrades, old and new. "If the Dead King is involved, the danger is far more than it seems, and I fault you not if you decide not to step on this path. But I can do naught but take up this Ordeal." Her jade green eyes cut back to She Whom Watches Over. "Indeed, it seems I have already done so."